kind of mandatory provisions in the way we operate in health care than we have -- than americans have ever accepted. so i've got some recipes but they're not ones that are likely to be politically acceptable. >> look, i've always said that the goal of the job of an economic advisor to a national politician is -- has two fundamental jobs. one is to be honest, tell them the truth. they don't hear that very off. and the second is to figure out a way to advance what you know to or what you believe to be

the right economic course in a way that is politically beneficial to the politician. because that's their business. and you have to -- touf fashion it that way. i also believe that frankly, you know, that economic policy however it's rendered, the goal of economic policy should be in effect to get the direction right. that is, what i would like to do is come up with policies that will make it more likely that income growth as people age will be positive. rather than i want it to be 3% or whatever. you know, too many moving parts, to big an economy. the government can effect the direction of developments not the degree. >> the medication isn't that

much stronger. i mean, you rule out protectionism, trade wars with china that kind of stuff which a lot of people reach to as a cure what's in the disease. >> yes. >> you're obviously strongly in favor of a marshall plan for middle class skills. community colleges. >> absolutely. and i think we can do some pretty radical things in education and training. you know, i don't see why education should be -- should cost -- why higher education should cost any american more than a nominal amount. i think that we can give tuition-free scholarships to everyone who attends public schools, public universities. and we have great public universities in america. and it would be a matter of rechanneling the student aid we now provide into this. and it would take it away from

the private universities. i am saying look i'm a product of private universities but as a matter of public policy the distribution of money between the private and public sector in education i think is a matter of indifference. what matters is people's access to college education and tuition should not be a barrier. i also think that we could and we've been proposing this in various forms for 15 years, since the mid 90s -- that's 15 years -- use the community college system as a means of providing any american free access to it skills. open up the computer labs, staff them. anybody who walks in can get training for nothing.

it's paid for by grants to the community colleges. it's consistent with the community college mission and this is clearly a plays a role in people's ability to perform effectively in jobs with rising salaries. >> let's have some questions. sorry i've been talking. the back we have a mike. just wait for that. and if you can state where you're from. >> i would be interested in your analysis on the role that labor unions have played in changing or not changing these statistics. >> well, that's a very -- i've thought about that a little. i haven't done an analysis of it. i don't have the data. but i think that there is a

role. it's not a -- the decline in the reach of labor and the power of labor coin sides with both a period of income stag nation as people age and a period of income gains as people aged. you've got the 1990s and you've got the 2000s. so that tells me it doesn't explain a lot. but we also found that we looked at four cohorts in this version of the analysis. people who were born in 19 40's, 1950, 1960s and then 1970 and then we followed them from

age 25 to age 55 and the job market. now we cut out before 25 because there's lots of changes between generations in the number of people going to college and i want to wash that out and we cut out after 55 because of the data become very hinchingy and i think it's because of people retiring early and in any event. so that's what we looked at. and but if you look at those who were born in 1945, who we tracked in the labor market from 1965 to whatever it was, 1990, no, to 2000. they did not have the same pattern as everyone else. they made big gains at the

beginning and then they stopped making gains. and my intuition about that is that what we're seeing there is the collapse in manufacturing jobs. that's the -- the core of which were union jobs, jobs of organized labor. and that -- i mean the other thing i absolutely accept that if we might have had a marginally different outcome in 2000 if there were broad based and strong unions. could have kept wage gains. but my conclusion from this is that played a role in the past

but that role was probably mainly in the 70s and 80s. that that's where we see the effect. and by the 90s, you had large wage gains with weak unions. so it's possible to have them with or without strong unions. that is my inference from it. but it plays a role clearly. >> quick question. how do you deal with the issue of integration? which is a larger portion of the labor force. and i don't know all the data but obviously plays a role in the labor force. [inaudible]

>> well the cohort really begins for an analystic purposes when people are 25. but you're right, and i thought about that. that is, i thought well here's something you're not taking account of. that the sample is not as stable as i would have liked it to be. because you've got people coming into the sample who are -- which would be people who come to the country and join the labor force after age 25. and that is, we start with those born in a particular year but we don't really look at their incomes until they're 25. and you know, i have done other work in this area actually in the impact of immigration on wages and it's very interesting. it largely affects increases in

immigration and in particular undocumented largely affect the incomes of other immigrants. there is some small effect on the income of lower skilled native-born americans. but there is also a positive effect on the incomes of managerial americans. because what happens is your labor force gets bigger you invest more and you need more managers and their responsibilities go up. so you see a positive relationship between immigration and management income -- salaries. other wise, the effects are, you know, there's that.

but the main effect is on the incomes of other immigrants. but we did not take account of it. and you're right, it's the data just don't tell us. >> did you look at what seems to be the financialization of the economy? what distinguishes between people who make the pie bigger and people who just take a larger part of the pie? where they come in they make a company more efficient by firing half the staff they sell -- and then they don't take that money an invest it in another business except to do

the same thing. so the money doesn't go to new companies producesing new things offering new jobs. it just goes to reverse mortgage -- sorry toxic mortgages things like that that produce a lot of money but don't produce any jobs. >> well, we -- and the first person to raise this with me was ed. the impact of growing inequality. and i said to him gee you mean there is new evidence that inequality has an effect on growth. so i agree with that. we avoid a lot of the issues

that you raise, however, by looking at median rather than average income. so if we look at average, then the fact that you have these enormous gains at the top would skew the average. and so that was why we chose median. and so we wash out some of that. but is that an independent factor in trying to explain what's happening to the economy that job creation and wages and salaries, however you measure it this just happened to me to be the perfect way to measure it or the best available. but there is all i can say is there are economists who think that it is a significant independent factor. and we've seen the share of

nation dwral income claimed by finance doubled. it came out of somewhere. so now, you know, there are arguments -- there were a lot of arguments about the fact that the value they were producing. there were fewer arguments after the crisis because now we have not only the value which they produced which i think look, we have the best system of financing for new businesses in the world. we do better at that. and there are lots of reasons for that. you know, all the vc funding and so on. but now we also have the costs. to consider. and the costs and the financial crisis were enormous. >> you criticize it had bush

administration for not recognizing the problem soon enough, calling any advisers. and yet in terms of prescriptions for policy change, the only thing two things i've heard were one, making public universities free and available. and two, opening up community colleges for free it training. certainly in the former that would require a major fiscal policy change and would take decades at best. guest: for which? >> free public -- >> oh, no. i think you could do it very quickly. in fact, i proposed it to president clinton in 1995. and it's -- there are states that have these programs. a couple states have it. it was really modeled on the hope scholarships in georgia where anybody with any high school graduate with a b

average in georgia could go to any georgia university for free. and i said let's make that a national program. but you're right. that those are long-term responses. short-term responses, look, i think the president has given a number of them that bush could have done which were you recognize you have a particular problem, a new problem with creating jobs. it used to be if the economy grew at a certain rate, we were a jobs machine. in the 70s, and the 8s and 90s you didn't have to do anything in particular to get businesses to create jobs. for some reason that stopped. that fell sharply. the relationship between how fast the economy grows and how many jobs businesses created change by about 50%.

very sharp change. i don't see that often in economics. so that's the problem. so you say ok, what do we do to create jobs? you know, one of the things i said to this administration at the job summit in 2009, i said reduce the cost of business of creating new jobs. and help create more of them. and the best way to do that is to reduce the employer's side of the payroll tax. for new job hires. in fact, they did go to a version of that. and but that's an example. the president has other proposals for credits, for particular kinds of businesses to create jobs, a new deduction of salary costs for new hires.

or increases in pay. you know, i don't know that the particular designs of these policies from my perspective are ideal. i do know that that's speaking about the problem and saying hey we've got a real problem with job creation. the economy on its own is not doing this for some reason. we will eventually figure out the underlying reason. in the meantime, how do we stimulate it? look, there are other -- i've had this -- at the job summit i had a discussion with alan blinder an old friend of mine. he had a different approach. he said public jobs. public works. 1930s. i don't think we're there yet. i don't think we could ever do it. but we would certainly could -- can justify, and indeed there is a demand for an increased

investment in infrastructure across the country. and they create jobs. and that's part of the the president's jobs bill -- jobs proposal. >> construction jobs or how does that affect the rest of the job market that has nothing to do with construction? >> well it's not just construction. but yes in the short term it only facts people involved in the planning and construction of highways and airports and broad band and et cetera. that's not only construction workers. they're design people, they're service people of all kinds. but is there -- do we have a -- is there -- there's no silver bullet. but what i'm saying is you can begin to think about this in lots of different ways and say let's try a range of ways and see what works.

because we've got this persistent reel structural problem. this is -- and part of my argument in this is what is happening, this is not simply about the financial crisis and the slow recovery that follows typically follows a financial crisis. this is about a larger structural change in the economy for which we have hard evidence from the last decade. and so this is not simply a matter of an emergency response. we need something more serious. that's why we're talking about the longer term things. but shorter term things bush didn't try any of this. and how they got away with it in the 2004 election, you know, at this point in the 2004 election the bush administration had created less than 2 million jobs. we've created over 5 million

jobs. and -- i don't know how they got away with it but they did. >> the question -- >> karl rove. and jim i guess. >> with the national association of independent colleges and universities. [inaudible] i want to be mindful that it's national policy -- a lot of students have access to look through a window. many of them went to school and private colleges and universities. do the best josh of getting the students through. those who graduate for four years is for sale. so -- what's the bester investment? >> if i had had my drutsdzers i would be spending 10% on higher

education. in my group i think history tells us that's the level in which the best performing economying in the world typically -- >> where are we now? >> we're now about 8. we used to bt 10. we're now about . korea the single most successful economy of the last 50 years is at ten and has been at ten since it was an incredibly poor country. and so to me that's what i would do. and so all i'm saying is we have -- i would start with the public system. i think that's what government should do. and but in my view, i would also provide assistance to very income dependent assistance to

private institutions as well. host: [inaudible] try to take [inaudible] so here and as you brought up to the conclusion i think we are -- companies true income growth. could we expect from america bigger protex policies as well as bigger coordinating monitoring and policy?

>> well, look it's the market that produced that growing inequality. these are inequalities of pretax income. the post tax income is a little less unequal but the truth is we provide lots of tax benefits for people to talk to as well. so we're certainly not doing anything to counter it. to counter what the market is producing. for some reason -- and it's going to be changes in the market and the conditions under which it operates. you know, the market was producing broad income gains for people as they aged and it stopped doing that.

the policy responses you described with high government spending and very accommodative monsry policy, those are policies in response to the particular problems that have arisen from the financial crisis and the recession that followed. i actually believe that the constituents for a stronger much stronger expansion are in place today. and that -- for the first time since the crisis. and that it needs a little push because the psychology people -- for example, the biggest example is what's happened in

housing. we had five years of steadily falling housing prices. in addition to very high foreclosure rates. but set aside the foreclosure rates. the house is the virtually the only asset that about half of americans had. own virtually no financial assets. the middle class. they own housing assets. their wealth fell by about 35% over five years. it kept on falling. >> well, a what economists dress up and call a negative wealth effect. you get poor and you respond in some way. how? by spending less by paying down your debt because you feel poorer. the fact is housing prices have stabilized and are beginning to move up. so we are moving past the

negative wealth effect into at least a mild positive wealth effect but people don't yet believe it or they don't feel confident about it because they've lived through five years of declining wealth in their homes. and so it will take a little while for that to settle in. and people to begin to respond to that by saying, hey, i can afford to spend more than i thought i could. and consumers spending has been the big problem in the redovery. business investment follows from that. so if i think those pieces are in place and that but -- and i think qe 3 is an attempt to kind of give it that push frankly. but you know, government's not so good at giving that kind of push. >> final quick question from the gentleman here.

[inaudible] any room for the convention on it? >> well, depends on the advanced economy you're talking about. you look at the 90s for example and germany performed very badly. japan performed very badly. japan continued to perform badly into the last decade. a couple of years exceptions.

so they didn't have a lot of the gains that we had. france looks a lot more like the united states, frankly. and but what's been happening in the last decade is also true in the -- you do see it. i haven't done this kind of analysis because those data aren't available to me for other countries. but all the normal indicators of how well those economies are performning say that they've been under performing in much the same way the united states has been underperforming for the last decade. which again leds credence to the notion that what this is about is sobalization and information technologies and the shift in the relative value of intangible assets versus tangible assets.

>> isn't the big difference the health care point you were bringing up? >> you're right. >> i work in tr. mine is kind of a propronged step out. my apologies. first one is in terms of the access to financial markets and what that has to do with america. i see those [inaudible] talked about the savings rates. these are potential access to the markets. how would you say -- financial -- all those different that didn't cause crash that are actually useful in terms of creating assets for the market. and then the disparity between

income inequality and what raising families has to do with that. women freakly eentor the workforce and you're talking about the history of the nites. in terms of parttime work. or in terms of house work versus bread winner or stuff like that. >> well, on the question of women's earnings, yes. the fact that women are the primary care takers of children in our society as compared to their husbands and a lot of women with children don't have husbands. it's certainly a factor absolutely. and i said that i thought the biggest factor here was i thought it was a greater proportion of part time work rather than full time work. now, you know, we -- you know,

that's in part part of the child care policies. it tulls us that that might be a very good investment would be to expand public support for child care which you could do in lots of different ways by increasing public support for the child care expenses that businesses bear as part of benefits for their workers. so yes, i think that the part time issue is large. i think the choice of professions is i think a big issue. and you know you just think of the -- and maybe this will change. but you go to google or facebook or microsoft and the

prepond rans of the young workers there are men. there are a lot of women but this is still a profecks that men feel more comfortable in than women for whatever reason. i don't know whether that's because how computer science is conducted in universities or i'm not with larry summers that i think it's all social and not physical. and on the other financial literacy. well, we didn't address that here because we're only looking at earnings and not at income from financial assets. we purposely made that decision to focus on earnings. as it is, that's an issue for the top 20% of the country.

93% of the value of all financial assets, includes pensions and retirement accounts and savings accounts and stocks and bonds all financial assets which is to say that every asset in the economy except homes. that's -- and art and gold or whatever. are held by the top 20% of the country. but financial literacy in the top 20%, i think does have an effect on ultimate in come.

would it be a good idea to have greater financial literacy across income distribution? absolutely, and it would be better to figure out a way and there are lots of ways to do it for average people to accumulate assets other than their own homes. >> baby bonds, but that is another subject. thank you, rod, for a very stimulating presentation, and we hope to hear more. [applause] >> joe biden canceled a virginia beach appearance today. he will be in lynchburg in half an hour. his son was said to be there but has canceled his plans and will

stay in delaware instead. the vice president continues on tuesday to ohio. congressman ryan is spending the weekend in ohio on a four hundred mile bus tour. we showed you heard it -- showed you his appearance earlier. mitt romney has canceled a number of events tomorrow and is instead campaigning in ohio with paul ryan. on monday, obama will head to the florida institute of technology. in about half an hour, we will take you live to lynchburg for the event with vice-president joe biden and his wife. until then, a look at the battleground state of north carolina from this morning's "washington journal.

tell us what makes north carolina battleground state. guest: traditionally, it has been a red state. it is moving more and more into a competitive state, and there are several reasons why. one of the things our

organization does is ask every year the voters where they stand in terms of conservative level. only florida and virginia, in terms of southern states, are to the left, so it is pretty divided. it also has political progressives, so it has been pretty much a modern state traditionally. there has been a tremendous influx of people from around the country. particularly in the big metropolitan areas, and none has been changing the politics over the years. in addition, it has a significant african-american population. 22% is african american, which

is the largest african-american population in about ground. all of those factors have put north carolina at into play. >> recently, you wrote an article with the headline, north carolina more like wisconsin than you might think. give us the comparison between north carolina and wisconsin. guest: people like to compare states geographically, but ideologically, north carolina lines up with wisconsin, which is counterintuitive. if you look ideologically, that is where north carolina is. they ask north carolina and

wisconsin citizens whether they are conservative or liberal, and that is the connection. they both have a conservative tradition and a liberal tradition. same thing with north carolina. they have sent paul ryan and a lot of conservatives to washington from wisconsin, but north carolina had conservatives like jesse helms and liberals like gary sanford. both states are divided. both states are capable of sending progressives and conservatives to represent them. both have an urban and rural tradition as well. host: the times news has one of its front-page articles this morning, the economy expands at a moderate pace but that should

have little impact on undecided voters. talk to me about the economy in the last four years in north carolina and what effect it is going to have in terms of getting out the vote and who people are going to vote for when they go to the polls. guest: that is why a lot of people assume that mitt romney will carry the state in 2012. this has been a very rough for years for the country, of course, but for north carolina in particular. the state's unemployment is 9.6%, one of the highest in the country. the main reason is that this is a very heavy manufacturing economy.

the state has traditionally taken it on the chin with textiles and furniture. a lot of it was in decline anyway, losing their base overseas to foreign countries. the recession was a killer. those jobs are gone and gone for good. manufacturing -- the manufacturing states have been particularly hard hit by the recession. in addition, even some of the newer industries such as banking have been really hurt by some of the problems in the banking industry. a lot of people just assume that the bank -- that the state will go republican in 2012 because this has been a pretty tough

four years in north carolina. north carolina has been very slow to make an economic recovery. host: talk to me about the campaign in terms of what activity you see it through various operations in the state and how things might be different in asheville than charlotte or in areas like wilmington along the coast. guest: well, the state is quite different. the western part is the republican heartland. it is also the textile area that has been hardest hit. the states more progressive areas, research triangle area

as and eastern north carolina is conservative but it has been traditionally democratic, although republicans have been making inroads in recent years. the republicans have tended to campaign most heavily in the western part of the state. mitt romney, for example, has made several appearances in the state, but he has not campaigned in the eastern half of the state at all. whereas, president obama has made quite a few appearances in the eastern part of the state, although not recently. that is also true of michelle obama and vice-president biden. they have a tendency to campaign in the eastern part of the state

which is where their political strength has been. host: the president has not been in north carolina since the convention. are people taking notice of that? guest: yes. the president has not campaigned in north carolina since april. governor romney was here a few weeks back, made an appearance in asheville, but that was mainly to have a visit with polygram, a much publicized visit, a visit to convey the message that it was ok for religious conservatives to vote for a mormon. vice-president joe biden has been here several times.

so, this has been a battleground state but not a top tier battleground state. clearly, we have not seen the major candidates here, but we have seen a lot of campaigning we have seen something like $80 million spent here in campaign ads. we have seen as much advertising here as most of the major battleground states. not as much as ohio but almost as much as any other state. you cannot turn your television without seeing a political ad since probably may.

we have a tremendous ground operation here. the obama campaign has something like 54 offices here and the republicans have something like 22 offices here. we have a tremendous amount of energy going into the ground operation. there is a tremendous amount of surrogates coming in almost every day like governors and celebrities and other people. there is a tremendous intensity of campaigning here just not the principles. host: you mentioned governor romney and his meeting with billy graham. talk to was more about that. does dr. graham, maybe his family members and sun, are they taking an active role in the romney campaign? are they just giving their

blessing to say that for evangelicals and people of faith in north carolina that it is ok to go ahead and support a mormon? guest: it is very close to an endorsement. you might as well call it an endorsement. he did not say to vote for him but it was close to it. i don't think you can underestimate the importance of billy graham giving his blessing to a candidate because he is a widely respected figure in north carolina. north carolina is part of the bible belt so i would say that billy graham is probably the most beloved figure in the state. i don't think that's an exaggeration. there are some people that say his son is one really driving the train here. franklin graham has been much more involved in conservative politics then billy graham. billy graham has been involved in politics over the years and was close to president richard nixon and i think he backed out

of politics a little bit because he felt he got burned after watergate. he was disappointed with richard nixon. he was disappointed with some of the language and so forth and back away but he was pretty close to george w. bush. president bush felt that billy graham made a tremendous difference in his life in a personal way in terms of his faith in helping rescue his life. i think he was pretty close to president george w. bush, as well. is not spoken a lot in terms of campaign literature but i think there has been some issues out there among evangelicals and some skepticism about governor romney's mormon faith and i

think billy graham's blessing is an important signal that it is ok to vote for a mormon. there have been full page ads and so forth. i think that is a very important thing in terms of the romney folks for billy graham to give that signal. host:rob christensen is with us. he is talking to us from raleigh and you can read more of his writings at news observer.com. we want to get more input and conversation going with some of our viewers and listeners. in order to do that, pick up the phone or send us a message --

we have a special line for folks calling from north carolina -- you can also send us e-mails -- we are on facebook -- and you can also reach out to us through twitter -- you were telling me before we get on the air about what you have been doing or the last couple of days. review for us the last 24 hours of where you have been and what you have seen and what you expect to see in the next 24 hours.

guest: there is a tremendous get-out-the-vote effort here in the state. there is a lot of surrogates coming in right now to try to encourage people to vote. yesterday, for example, we had the rev. jesse jackson come in to try to encourage young people, particularly young people on historically black campuses, to vote. he was at north carolina central university which is and has starkly black school in durham and he was at the university of chapel hill and in another one in greensboro. he was a student body president there and a college quarterback. he got his start as a civil rights leader there. he was talking to students and reminding them of the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents made when the

civil rights movements happened. in durham, he led a march of students to register to vote. they have sunday registration here in north carolina and early registration period there is a two-week period where you can actually vote. there is a two-week window where you can vote. later in the day, we had alicia keys, the singer and songwriter, who had about 1000 people in raleigh at a park edit

for atomic late african- american neighborhood and was urging people to vote. in a suburb of raleigh, smithfield, in a tobacco warehouse which is a schumann this warehouse, we had about 5000 people show up to here pat mccrory, the republican for governor and chris christie. this is his third trip to the state. he has campaigned so often, he says he is thinking of moving here. he has campaigned for the republican ticket. host: i'm sure they would miss the governor dearly if he were to leave new jersey and moved to north carolina. let's go to the phones -- our first caller is calling from asheville, n.c., on our line for independences. caller: rob, i'm surprised you did not mention that asheville is a very liberal city and textiles is not our primary industry. i live across the road from

billy graham's compound. you did not bring up the fact that he removed mitt romney and mormon is and as a call from his list and has been controversial here. -- as a cult. for the last two years, republicans have been in control of north carolina, unfortunately. they get into abortion and voter i.d. which was defeated. going back to asheville, we are a liberal city. i have already voted for obama and i voted for him in 2008 and i think he is the answer for this country, not mid romney. host: talk to us. guest: western north carolina is a fairly conservative area. asheville is a liberal pocket within western north carolina.

it is true that the website for the graham association had listed more medicine as a cult until recently, until they had kind words for mitt romney and they took that off their website. make about what you will. host: our next call comes from edwin in new bern, n.c., on our line for republicans. caller: i am glad to see you on the air but my thing is -- in this election has been more nuclear polarized and i voted for barack obama the first time but he will not get my vote the second time. he does not have a plan for this country. if we continue to go in the

direction we are going, things will not be corrected. rather than attacking the person, he waits until almost the last 10 days to insult our intelligence to have a booklet of all of his plants which are just a rehash plans of the last four years. i was proud to go to the voting booth early. we had a -- even today, we still have a large turnout of early voters in newburn and i am glad to see a lot of people i have spoken to who were in my shoes last time that voted for barack obama and have changed their mind. host: robb christensen, go ahead. guest: he is giving his opinion but we have had a tremendous turnout of early voting in north carolina.

in 2008, 51% of the electorate voted before election day. essentially, obama won the election before election day. john mccain won the election day vote but obama had already won the election in the early voting period. we have already had 1 million people voted north carolina. -- voters in north carolina. at this point, the democrats are doing better on the early voting, it appears. we don't have a vote count so we don't know exactly what the tally is. if you look at things -- we know things like number of active americans who have voted and that is up from the percentage who voted in 2008.

percentage is greater this time at this juncture that was in 2008. the number of younger voters who tend to be more for obama than for running a, a greater percentage is up this time compared to 2008. those are all good signs for the obama campaign. but, what that will mean at the end, we don't know but the obama campaign had a good signal from that.

host: we have a chart from an article in the "atlantic." it talks about absentee ballot request in north carolina. host: the democrats made a gain of about 9000. in your observations, do you see more democrats look again for absentee ballots in 2012 over 2008? might this make a difference for the obama campaign? guest: i think the key is in the early voting. at this point, the democrats seem to be having an edge in the early voting.

you can look at the demographic numbers. there are some reasons why that might be the case. the obama campaign never actually shut down their operation from the 2008 campaign. they have a much larger staff and a much larger organization and did they have essentially been staffed up and going full steam for the last year.

the republicans in 2008, they were caught unaware because they did not how to put north carolina in play. they thought it was a republican state. they vowed that the event -- would have a much better get out the vote organization and they do. even so, they are still playing catch-up because they had to go through the whole primary season to pick a. they were late -- a. nominee.

it was only this spring where they put together their organization in north carolina so they were already seven or eight months behind the democrats when they started organizing here in north carolina. i think the democrats have a strong organizational edge. i don't know what that means but it could mean a couple of things -- i think the conventional wisdom is that the state least slightly toward mid run it. -- miche romney. that is possibly right.

we have had three polls this week, three separate polls, that have shown the state is still very close. that has to be considered a tossup. host: our next call is from durham, n.c., on our independent line. good caller: morning, gentlemen. i think our state remains fairly close. i think it will be a lot about voter turnout. my question is about the impact health care will have a north carolina. i work in a hospital and i have seen sweeping improvements to

and quality of care related to health reform. i feel it is not addressed in a lot of the riding that is coming out. what do you think of the health care will have? host: in the headlines this morning -- from the weekend edition of the "wall street

journal," economy grows at 2% pace. consumers, government spending, powered third-quarter gains, but growth likely to slow down. guest: well, you know i was at a rally last night and republican candidate got up there and said if he's elected he will do everything he can to repeal obama care. so it's still a very popular issue for republicans. and the polling in north carolina still suggests that

the president -- that obama care is still not very popular in north carolina although you start taking pieces of that like preexisting conditions and that sort of thing, it becomes various parts of it are more popular with the public. it's been a tough sell in north carolina. i think it's one of the reasons for example in 2010 that the state legislature went republican. it's one of the reasons that democratic congressmen lost his congressional seat here in north carolina. so it's been a tough issue for democrats. i don't think there's any question about that and a good issue for republicans. host: rob christensen talking to us from north carolina. you can read some of his writings at news observer.com. host: what are you going to be watching for on election night in north carolina? guest: the national presidential race is why people are looking at north carolina. but in the state we have -- it's been a battleground -- we have several battlegrounds going on. we have a governor's race going on. north carolina has had 20 years of democratic governors. it's the longest run of democratic governors east of the mississippi river. that could come to an end. the current incumbent governor decided to not seek reelection and the democratic nominee is in the polls is in deep trouble and it looks like that former charlotte mayor who lost in 2008 is has maintained a double digit lead the entire year and looks to be in good shape to be the first republican governor since jim martin was elected in 1980. so it is shaping up as a very good republican year in the state. host: you've also got quite a contest going on in north

carolina's 11th district. tell us about that. guest: we had -- let me jump back a little bit. in 2010 we had the first republican legislature since 1800's. and it came just as redistricting happened. it meant that you had new lines drawn for congressional districts. and so the -- with these new lines right now we have an 8/7 breakdown, 8 democrats, 7 republicans, i think that's right. no it's 7/6. but the republicans think they can pick up four seats because of the new district lines. if so that would be the biggest pick up of any state in the country. it seems there are certain to

pick up two seats based on unfavorable new districts. democratic congressmen decided not to seek reelection brad miller in the 13th and in the 11th. and larry kissell in the 8th district in charlotte area and that goes down to the south carolina border is in a really tough reelection fight. and then really the race that really is getting all the attention and that is really the cliff hanger here is in the seventh district where conservative democrat mike mcintire is facing a difficult fight against david rouser who is a state senator. and that's one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. and a lot of national money is flowing into that. that is in the southeast part of the state from raleigh down to the southeastern part of the state.

mcintire is trying to hold on in a district that is much more republican. and that's the district that everyone is looking for. but we could see a district -- we could see the state's delegation go from 7-6 democratic majority to a 10-3 republican majority over night. host: rob christensen, we're going to go back to the phones. go ahead. caller: how you doing? my question is how can you guess all of today's washington

journal is available in our video library at c-span.org. we are going to take you now live to a campaign event with vice-president joe biden. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. hello, everyone. it is great to be here in virginia. most of all, i want to thank all of you for everything you are doing for this campaign. as i travel around the country, i see that this campaign is connected to people in a very real way. about people's lives?

i feel the same way. even if joe were not on this ticket, i would still be working hard for this election. i would do it because of the community college right here in virginia. that is i i am so grateful that president obama and my husband are making quality investments to move us forward on education. i am also involved in this election as a woman who cares about the direction of this country. i see barack and joe stand up for our freedoms every single day. the very first bill president obama signed was the ledbetter fair pay act. [applause]

the president and vice-president know how important it is for women to make our own decisions about our own bodies and our own health care. [applause] so many women of my generation have fought hard for roe versus wade and for equal rights. we do not want our daughters and our granddaughters to have to go back and fight those same battles that we fought decades ago, and we cannot forget about the importance of the supreme court and the direction this country could take. finally, i care about this

country, as this -- about this election as a military mom. our sons served in iraq for a year. i have had the honor of meeting many of our military families. i see how much they love this country and the sacrifice they have made to take -- to protect it, one to make sure all of our veterans get the care and the respect that they deserve. we have come so far, but we have got to keep moving forward. and now, it is my pleasure to introduce the man who keeps fighting for you, our vice president, joe biden. [applause]

>> hello, lynchburg. it is great to be with you. thank you. thank you, thank you, thank you. thank you very much. thank you. mr. mayor, thank you for the passport to lynchburg. i appreciated very much. as you have figured out by now,

i am joe biden, jill biden's husband. i am not kidding. i tell you what. i am proud of her. on behalf of our sun, the attorney general of delaware, he literally drove down from wilmington and was sitting in air force to as we were about to take off and he called me and said the governor just called in the national guard, i am going home. so, he apologizes for not being here. he wanted to be with you. again, michael, thank you for the hospitality. i want to tell you, it is good

to be in a state that is going to be represented by tim kaine. there is a decent, honorable man. that man has more integrity in his little finger than most people have in their whole body. i am a big fan, a big fan. i am also a fan of tom. where are you? talk about a stand-up guy. thank you for all your help during this campaign. folks, before we get started, i want to make a public-service announcement. here in virginia, you have absentee in person voting. that means if you are a commuter and you work long hours, you

probably qualify to vote early. starting next monday, you can go to your local registrar to vote. if you have any questions, you have folks in the back wearing obama for america buttons -- you are all wearing obama buttons -- wearing obama for america buttons that can tell you how to do it. folks, the president had his third and final debate with governor romney and i had my one debate with congressman ryan. you know, that last debate, i was not sure whether governor romney was there to endorse obama or debate obama.

it was kind of amazing. all of those things i heard him say before, i did not hear him say again. my grandfather from scranton used to say be where -- beware of the converted. he sure sounded converted, didn't he, during that debate? what happened to mitt romney? as my granddaughter might say, maybe casper the friendly ghost took him. i don't know. look, i hear is the truth. they have made it very clear they do not have the same view on women's rights as we do. on women's health, they want to give the power back to the insurance companies were they can charge 50% more than men.

when the governor was asked in the second debate, how do you feel about equal pay for equal work, what did he do? he started to talk about binders. binders. binders of qualified women he learned were out there. we call that an epiphany in the catholic church. we never did learn if he believes women are entitled to equal pay for equal work. barack obama and i are committed to equal pay. we are absolutely committed to making sure that his daughters have theanddaughter's exact same rights as my son and my grandson's.

and folks, as jill said, just picture the supreme court after four years of president romney. ladies and gentlemen, they have made it clear that they also have a very different view on foreign policy. when we entered the warren arrived, they said we should commit 30,000 troops -- entered the war in iraq, they said we should commit 30,000 troops. they refused to commit to an end date in afghanistan. his national security adviser -- the governor is running away from everything he said in the last year-and-a-half. the congressman is running away from everything he voted for. i am not making this up.

this is real. ladies and all men -- ladies and johnson, they are counting on the american people -- ladies and gentlemen, they are counting on the american people to have an overwhelming case of bemis on november 6th. all of a sudden -- case of amnesia on november 6th. the president has a new term for it. he calls it romnesia. all of a sudden, he does not have a five trillion dollar tax cut. congressman ryan, the guy whose budget cut everything 19% across the board, the guy who pledged to voucherize medicare, all of a sudden, he does not plan to cut

their programs. he plans to slow their growth. he eliminates $2,500 tax cuts for middle-class parents, it takes $1,000 off of pell grants, knocking god knows how many people out of college. saying they are not cutting medicare or environmental protection is like mitt romney trying to convince the guy in the unemployment line that he did not outsource his job, he offshored his job. and now romney is running ads all across the country about getting tough on china. the same guy the washington post called a pioneer in outsourcing. the same guy who criticize the president for taking action in china, saving thousands of jobs in the steel and rubber

industry. the same guy who has part of his fortune invested in chinese companies. the same job the wants to sign a territorial act that would create 800,000 jobs -- all of them overseas. this is a guy who as governor of massachusetts literally outsourced the call service that people would call into to see if they qualified for unemployment. he sent it overseas. now, when you hear met ronnie say he would protect american jobs by getting tough on china, i have one word for you. you know it. malarkey. is a bunch of malarkey. folks, mid-romney has shown he is very good is sending jobs overseas. i have news for the governor.

the president's job is to create jobs in america, a key jobs from leaving america, that is -- keep jobs from leaving america. that is the president's job. as he said in the second debate, mitt romney's plans are sketchy. i do not like to correct the president, but the plans are not sketchy. y.ey are etch-a-sketch th extending tax cuts for the very wealthy, continuing a $500 billion tax cut for 125,000 families while cutting essential programs. turning medicare into a voucher program which will cost seniors tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket over time, cutting

$800 billion from medicare, not the 19 million people off the program, kicking 200,000 kids off of the early education and probably giving another two hundred $50,000 tax cut to the top 1%, which would require raising taxes on middle-class people by $2,000 a year. all of these cuts in vital programs are in the service of new, massive tax cuts for the wealthy. instead of signing a pledge to grover norquist, they should be signing a pledge to the middle class people of america to level the playing field. to give them a fair shot again. that is the pledge's the president and i would have signed from the start. we understand that my dad was right when he used to say as he

had to move from scranton to wilmington to find a job. he said joe, your job is about more than a paycheck. it is about dignity. it is about respect. it is about your place in the community. that is why we will continue to focus in our second term on jobs and middle-class security. because we believe that as america, in order to succeed, the middle-class have to succeed. and the wealthy do very well, i might add. giving the middle class a fighting chance is what this is all about. we believe it is the foundation upon which the middle class was built in the first place and where it will grow is education. that is why we maintained cuts for college tuition. we committed for -- we committed to cut college tuition in half over the next decade.

we committed to hire hundreds of science and math teachers over the next years. when we talk about the job, we talk about a decent job, a job you can raise a family on, own a home, not rent, have a decent school to send your child to come and be able to help send them to college, take care of your parents when they get older and save enough money that your children will not have to take care of you. that is why we are going to create new manufacturing jobs, change the tax code, reward companies that come home not those that go abroad. two million people, two million americans with the skills they need over the next three years at community colleges, working with businesses to ensure that when people finish school they can go into jobs that are now open. on energy, we're going to produce more american made energy, oil, clean coal, natural

gas. alone, those will create 600,000 new jobs in 10 years. wind, solar, biofuel. we have already required automobiles to double their mileage. that alone will save 1.7 trillion dollars at the pump and 12 billion gallons of oil over that time. -- 12 billion barrels of oil over that time. folks, we're going to level the playing field for the middle class because whenever the middle class is given a chance, they have never, ever, ever left their country down. we are going to do it by allowing 14 million americans, many of you here in the state of virginia who have never missed a mortgage payment, who are paying 6.5%-7.5% on a mortgage payment to refinance, saving

$3,000 a year. where i come from, there are 400,000 of you in the state of virginia who would qualify. where i come from, that is the difference between whether you can pay your automobile insurance or keep your kidding community college, two basic things you need to do. and instead of another $500 billion tax cut, continuing the bush tax cut for the top 1% that is supposed to expire in january, gives $500 billion to 120,000 families, instead of doing that, we propose cutting taxes for 98% of the people, making permanent those tax cuts. and we are going to end the war in afghanistan as we get -- as we did in iraq.

saving literally hundreds of billions of dollars in using that money here to reduce our debt, to reduce the long-term debt, to cut taxes, to eliminate tax breaks for the very wealthy. that will get us halfway to the $400 billion target of reducing the debt. the rest of the money, we're going to invest here in america, reading good jobs in america, building american roads, the american bridges, american infrastructure, american schools. it is time to invest in america. look, what i am about to say will be controversial, but i think it is absolutely fair to say that there is not a single idea that has been offered by governor romney or congressman ryan that is different from the policies that got us in trouble in the first place. really. letting banks -- the governors

said he will eliminate dodd- frank, reasonable regulations put on banks and wall street. let banks write their own rules again. let wall street go unregulated. add $2 trillion of tax cuts to people making more than a million dollars a year. these are decent people, folks, patriotic americans, but the last thing they need is another tax cut. we have seen this before. we know how it ends. 9 million lost jobs. home equity evaporated. retirement accounts up in flames and the great recession of 2008. the american people will not go back. they will not go back. folks, -- [crowd chanting four more years]

folks, you have to ask yourselves, both these guys i believe are decent men. you have to ask yourself, why would they push to return to these economic policies? why would be go back to the bush policies on steroids, as president clinton said? i have come to one conclusion, the only one i can figure out, and i mean this sincerely. it is about their attitude about america and attitude about half the american people. you've heard governor romney is insulting comments that 47% of the american people are -- now, i hear is the part that bothers me. he said they are unwilling to take responsibility for their own lives. these people are my neighbors. he is talking about my parents, the people i grew up with in scranton, the people here in lynchburg. they include seniors who worked

their whole lives to pay for social security and now don't pay taxes on that, nor should they pay taxes on that. we are talking about the 68,000 warriors as i speak who are risking their lives in afghanistan who are paying no income tax on their salaries, nor should theyspeaking of thosw many of you know someone who was been deployed to afghanistan or iraq over the last two decades? we know you. we owe their families. i checked every single day and this morning again with the defense department, how many have lost? i have been in and out of iraq and afghanistan 20 times. there refer to someone killed in action as a fallen agent. there have been 6,502 fallen agents. ngels.

thousands of them require care for the rest of their lives. understand one thing -- barack and i believe as i believe you do that we only have one sacred obligation as americans -- to acquit those we sent to war and care for them and their families when they come home -- to equip those be sent to war and care for them and their families when they come home. the believe as i think you do, the american people are so much better stronger and takes a much more responsibility than these guys give them credit for. i have never seen two candidates for the highest office of the land be more negative about the state of our country, about america's prospects for the future. more negative about the willingness of the american people to take responsibility for their own lives. congressman mayan writes -- ryan

writes about the culture of dependency. i did not recognize the country they are talking about. that is not the country i live in. i am here to tell you, we are better positioned than any nation in the world to lead the 21st century. they say we are in decline. 5.2 million new jobs instead of losing $800,000 per month -- 800,00 jobs per month. but the and implement rate dropped to the lowest since we took office, they did not say implement it was declining, this america is declining. export is up 41%. housing starts were at the highest level since 2008. when they heard that, they said america is in decline. more americans for the first time feeling they're better off

and will be better off than any time in the last five years. what is their answer? america is in decline. romney and ryan are in the nile. that is what's wrong. -- are in denail. that is what's wrong. you folks in virginia get it. there is no quit in america. the american people have fought their way back and they are not going back. the entire history of this great nation as only known one direction -- forward. that is the only direction it has known. folks, i got news -- governor romney, congressman ryan, it is never ever been a good bet to

bet against the american people. never. virginia, we need you. we win virginia, we win this election. so got there, bring it home. god bless you all and make god protect our troops. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] ♪

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>> we take care of our own wherever the flag's flown we take care of our own ♪

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what the vice president biden leaving lynchburg. via twitter, beau biden said the governor has just called the national guard. i'm going home. the storm, hurricane sandy, playing havoc with the

scheduling for the candidates. president obama and mitt romney campaigning across the country today. president obama earlier in new hampshire with singer james taylor. tomorrow he had to orlando florida and monday he will be in ohio and virginia. tuesday, advanced in colorado springs and green bay, wisconsin. mitt romney today has three stuffed with senator marco rubio and congressmen and u.s. senate candidate connie mack. he will continue to ohio tomorrow and spend the day campaigning with paul ryan. on monday, mitt romney moved to iowa and wisconsin. tuesday, he hosts an event in manchester, new hampshire. the events again with joe biden tonight at 8:00. sunday, the third-party candidates debate held earlier this week. gary johnson, jill sein of the green party, former congressman

virigl goode and rocky anderson of the justice party. it was moderated by larry king. that is tomorrow at 10:35 a.m. eastern right after newsmakers. as we approach election day, c- span is asking middle and high school students to send a message to the president. in a short video, students and to the question, what is the most important issue the president should consider in 2013? for a chance to rent $5,000.50000 dollars total prices. -- for a chance to win $5,000 and $50,000 total in prices. bobby schilling debates democratic challenger bustos at brandi university. mr. shilling sur's in his first term in congress. bustos served as an alderman.

the debate is in partnership with the league of women voters and the institute for principled leadership. it is about an hour. >> it begins in northern illinois with the western portion. it extends west from there to the mississippi river. then it turns southward and head down to the quad cities, continues south along the river to henderson county. then turns eastward and includesfulton county. and the southern half of the city of feioria. we have a live studio audience here this evening. i have asked them to refrain from out or expressions during the debate, except when i introduced the candidates, which i will do now. first, the challenger, democrat, from illinois, sherry bustos.

[applause] and the incumbent, republican from illinois, bobby schilling. [applause] the format for tonight's debate requires 75 seconds for opening statements, then it will have 75 seconds to enter the initial question and up to 30 seconds for rebuttal. statements will also be 75 seconds in length. we have people on the illinois league of women voters here this evening to time the candidates. i am your moderator for tonight. asking the questions of our candidates will be alex. in his reporter at wbcu fm. also asking questions is the news director at wvik fm.

we have solicited questions from the internet and the public, asking those questions will be camille odonnell, a journalism students. we thank them for being here this evening. we asked the candidates to support their statements with detailed -- details were appropriate. by a foot of the coin, we determined that bobby schilling will begin with the opening statement -- by flip of the coin, we determined that bobby schilling will begin with opening statement. >> thank you. thank you to all the viewers tonight watching this debate. they are very important for us to have. i would like to thank them for the endorsement this week and the registered stars endorsement.

i think them for that. my wife and i have been married for 26 years. we have 10 children. for the last 16 years, we have run our small business. a couple years ago, i decided i would take a look at running for office. i did not like the country are dark -- the direction our country was heading i felt the only way to make a difference was to throw my hat in the ring. led by -- we have led by example. we cut our budget by $150,000 with this congress. i returned money back to the taxpayers. i rejected the congressional pension and bought my own health care to washington and in looking forward to a nice debate tonight. >> thank you. now,, cheri bustos. >> i am a lifelong illinois

residents. the daughter of a social worker and the public servant. the granddaughter of a house farmer and a nurse. my husband and i work -- were taught from a young age the importance of making a difference in giving back. we have done that you are life. my husband is in law enforcement. for many years i was an investigative reporter and fought public corruption. i spent the last 10 years of my career in health care, making sure it is accessible and we offer quality health care. this election will get down to parties i see this is a different set of priorities from where my husband and i come from and from what congressman schilling stands for. i pledge to give it my all and work on behalf of the middle class families that have been under attack by the last two years of congressman schilling's

tenure. we have to make sure progress are there for students to go to college and the balance the budget with the right parity. not on the backs of the middle class but with the middle-class in mind. thank you very much. >> now it is time for questions from the panelists. >> welcome to both candidates tonight. congressman schilling, you are from colona and ms. bustos, from east moline/ those cities are 7 miles apart yet members will have to represent a district that is over 85 miles wide. how would each of you best represent people in peoria and rockford, and given the physical size of the district? >> excellent question. if you look at the gerrymandering of the district i currently represent, this is something we need to make some adjustments to.

and fit the mapping system. we need a fair map. it is ridiculous what the politicians do, pitting the voter vs the voter picking the politician. i have been to this week and 37 times today. i have gone out and made relationships with the mayors -- mayor dave. this called hit the ground running. we have to go out and tour facilities. i have gone to the heartland clinics in town. this is about getting to know people and seeing what is important to them. i think we of that quite a bit of that throughout our time that we have been coming back and forth to the area. doing inthings they're peoria are being used in

rockford and vice versa. so tied in those areas together and making sure we're getting the best bang for our buck. >> the same question to request that is a good question. we do get out of the travel of around the district. i said from the start of our campaign that should i be elected, i will open an office and into the quad cities in peoria and rockford. kabul look into the feasibility of a satellite office for the rural areas. -- i will look into the feasibility of a satellite office for the rural areas. they will reflect the makeup of the communities. at the debt is very important. constituent services are among -- they have to be among congressman's top priorities. make sure we listen to residents and with their concerns are and be responsive to that. another part i think is important for serving the entire district is we have said that

with in the first 90 days of being elected, we will host an economic summit. this will be done annually but i see that as helping to set the foundation for what we need to accomplish for job creation, making sure we're serving artistic as best possible. >> we allow up to 30 seconds for rebuttal. congressman tim >> we will have an office here in peoria, one in rockford and the illinois quad cities. we will have a rover, somebody that has specific days where we go to the smaller counties making sure they're getting proper representation. constituent services is the key to any office out there. that is one of the things we pride ourselves on. but the same 30 seconds for rebuttal. >> thank you. i see that is very hands-on. making sure the you have accessible office locations, making sure you have hours that reflect the community's needs.

a lot of hands on individual interaction. i will throw one thing out there quickly and we can get back to this. congressman schilling is number one in congress for spending on taxpayer funded mail. that is how he is chosen to spend his funding. it is something i would pledge not to spend. almost half million dollars in tax payer funded mail. to communicate with constituents. let the candidates will respond in an alternating fashion to the questions. ms. bustos will answer the next question first. >> everyone is talking about cutting federal spending and reducing the federal deficit. i will let for both of you to talk about programs are spending in the 17th district that he would be willing to sacrifice and help lower the federal deficit. 25 jobs -- doubling in the bridge >> the budget is the defining

issue. i see it as getting down to priorities. we obviously have a budget problem. we have to balance our budget. how are we going to do it? on the backs of seniors? as my opponent opposes, where it would charge those of medicare and extra six to $400 a year. i talk to people all over this district. they cannot afford an additional $6,400 out of pocket. are we going to do it on the backs of workers such as those upton to freeport to jobs are getting set to china? because there are tax incentives to do that? or are we going to continue to give tax breaks for big oil at the expense of middle class families that are going to be asked to pay $2,000 more under the mayan budget plan that my opponents supports. -- under the ryan budget plan that my opponent supports.

$100 billion and a savings every year. the report is sitting on a shelf. it has a proposal such as merging the small business administration with the department of commerce. it has proposals like getting rid of redundant services. for instance, job training programs. there are 44 redundant job training programs that we can do away with. >> the same questions with specifics justice, schilling. >> i believe you start with the top and lead by example. my opponent talks about the mail as i said. i invested less than 50 cents per constituent in the district. we spent money communicating with our constituents but at the same time, we spent less on office is that what my predecessor is spent on 1. our table was about $400,000 less than my predecessor. was about $40,000

less than my predecessor. one of the cuts, asset and the agricultural committee. one of the cuts saved $16 billion. what the cut does, i believe he did not take anything away from those that chilly needed if you get a dollar's worth of heating assistance, you automatically qualify for $200 on us in nutrition, food stamps. we said we would have folks allowed an application to capture those abusing the system. somebody that has won the lottery, we get those folks of the system. >> thank you. >> the ask for specifics. i am happy to address those. the other thing we need from my

hat to the balanced approach. part of that is the undue burden that we're putting on the middle-class. the tax breaks for those making over $1 million, they need to go away. this is about middle-class working families. this district, the 17th congressional district, is made up of working men and women. >> i want to rebut the medicare scare. for 30 years, politicians have been scaring seniors, telling them medicare will be ended in evil lose your social security. everyone i talk to so far still has the medicare and social security. the $6,400 amount that might opponent has put out there has already been debunked by the wall street door. -- by the wall street journal.

if the tax hikes,, what will happen is we will lose 31,000 jobs in illinois. 700,000 jobs in the united states. >> the next question comes from camille about the university. >> what do you believe is the role of congress in regard to gas prices? does congress play a wall in such policy, what specific tactics to use a port to lower gas prices? >> they do play a role. one of the bid will they play is to pass laws to make it where we can make -- we can act as our own domestic energy. this administration has made it illegal to get a permit to access natural gas on public grounds. the keystone pipeline is another thing that this administration

has put a halt to. my opponent supports the pipeline yet she has -- she is endorsed by one of the biggest firms out there that says you cannot do anything that will put a pipeline in. the key thing here is to get the government -- the overt regulation is crushing our economy. those are the facts. we have to have clean air, clean water. at the same time, when you have the federal government telling the american farmer that your 17-year-old daughter cannot drive a tractor, who will take better care of the farm kid? mom and dad or big government? the key thing is to have both parties coming together sharing ideas. not one party telling us what we cannot do. let's look at everything and do it in a responsible way for our economy, for our environment and also to make sure that people are safe on their jobs. >> we need to get away from our

reliance on foreign energy. we are taking some good steps in that direction. we have some great examples right here in peoria. with the ag lab. they are researching something that has great potential. as higher oil content than soy beans. it can be planted in the off- season. and has great potential to be used as an alternative biofuel. within the 17th congressional district, we have examples of solar farms. we have examples of wind farms. and did a favor of keeping the wind farm subsidy. that is currently being fought by the republican presidential nominee. i am at a favor of that. we have a district that can be a leader in the united states for helping us come up with alternative energy sources and

get away from the rely on foreign tule. i'm very excited about the possibility. very excited about how the ag lab can play a major part in that. ashink, let's use this area an example that we can hold up around the rest of the country. >> rebuttal from congressman schilling. >> i would agree. i am a big believer in all of the above. my family and i built a green home. green is a red light and blue -- red, white, and blue. it saves us money. we have to put all options on the table. >> to what i was not able to adjust the to my first response also is a very much supports the president's proposal to increase the mileage on vehicles that are manufactured. another part that was just one

-- an ounce within the last week is what is going on at caterpillar. that's part of this as well. we have tremendous innovation going on back and play a major part in helping the environment and helping us to be a leader in this area. >> alex has the next question. >> i would like to turn to an issue that both candidates have participated in earlier this week. ms. bustos, he held a rally earlier this week. today also added to east moline, the international union of local operating engineers endorsed you, congressman schilling. going into specifics, what can you detail about how you would specifically help organize workers? >> we need to get the economy going again. that is number one.

our job creation plan involves about manufacturing in the very folks dimension. i'm very proud to have the endorsement. my father in law as a uaw retiree. my husband was in the uaw. this is family. this is personal. it means a lot to me. our job creation plan is this -- that we caught the manufacturing triangle. we have manger -- major manufacturing. geographically it makes up a tying goal. we need to partner with community colleges to look of the skills gap. we have jobs that we cannot fill right now. that is where community colleges can come into play. we need to make sure we are addressing these policies that

incentivized businesses to send jobs over to places like china. i hope we will have an opportunity to talk about the workers at the bane capital plant in the northern part of our district in how they're being hurt by the still policies my opponent supports. >> the same question regarding organized labor to congressman schilling. >> it is really clear my opponent is a press -- is against the free-trade agreement that came out last year. in this district, it is used. caterpillar can give you an idea, at one of their plants they have 3000 workers. 80% of their products shipped outside of the united states. if you do the math, that is a% times 2000 employees. what we have to have in this country is a level playing field.

we have the highest corporate tax rates in world. administration has put a more regulation than george bush and bill clinton combined. that is how you ship jobs overseas, when you over regulate and overtaxed. the labor folks will get their jobs. but as they continue to put more regulation and more taxes on our american companies, they will ship more jobs overseas. we create an environment in washington and springfield. we know best in illinois what bad environment and that politicians do to our state. we see here. we see caterpillar with four or five plants not been built here. there is a reason, because of hothouse environment. >> we can get into the free trade agreements later on in this hour by going back to the organized labor groups, given both of your support, why should

a factory worker earning wages just above the family poverty line vote for you? if you can talk to someone out there who might be watching or listening, what could you do for them? >> are we getting a full 75 seconds to answer this? >> i will give a full 75. >> this is about middle-class and working families. it is making sure that we support the policies that support working men and women. that means that we have -- we agree to fair wages. we have merely ledbetter -- lily ledbetter supporting our campaign because we support equal pay for equal work, no matter who you are. to receive the endorsement of nearly every labor organization in this region is an indication that i am on the right side of organized labor and it is where i come from. my opponent's voting record on

organized labor -- 7%. this is one of the heaviest labor -- organized labor districts in the country. we have 90,000 labor households in this country. we have to make sure we're looking out for what is important to working-class men and women and making sure they have a right to organize. making sure we have, we agree to a private labor agreements. i have a track record on the city council where i have approved this. in my career, i have been involved in $100 million in private labor agreements. i am proud of that. i have hands-on experience doing that kind of thing. >> there will be no rebuttal because of the following questions. we turned to bobby schilling for his answer. >> the key here is it will back to the empire met we create. -- the environment wite

create. john deere or caterpillar probably cannot get started today. we are continuing to penalize folks that want to get things off the ground. with the government need to do is make sure we give them proper regulation, clean water, clean air, ct the employees. it is one of the key things. the person that might be building something in the the roster they might turn into the next john deere to put these people to work making 30, 40, 50 >> an hour. one of the things that is great after visiting people here is the training facilities they have here, the labor folks know well that when they get that job and the people that actually hire them, they know the heart -- the quality will be there. this is where we have to get the skills sets to our community colleges. get these folks working together to where they are tied in with the businesses. one of the shortages we have is engineers. across the board.

getting everybody working together for the common good would be big plus. >> the next question goes to, schilling first. >> a recent campaign at, congressman i learned that you hate old people and that ms. bustos [unintelligible] using your cell bullet on television, the have any -- you bullied onourself television beard how might want to change the current -- on television. how might you change this current situation? >> when we do our ads, when i say i am bobby schilling, i approve this message, that is

one that i approve. kwqc tv faq check in said it was accurate. the big thing is when you look at the ad bobby schilling is going to end medicare as we know it, it was the politifacts lie of the yaer. ear. what we have to do is do our best with our assets. and try to do some type of reform to where you do not have people putting up at that neither party approves. >> every major print publication into the 17th congressional district has criticized the ads that congressmen schilling just try to hold up as being factual. was called reckless fiction. so what you're saying is not true. i'm proud of the campaign be

run. there has not been anything i've said nor anybody on my staff that said -- said that has not been accurate. i said from day one that we are going to run an honorable, honest campaign. i'm proud of the fact that i can stand up here and say we have done that. it is not fair as congressman schilling's ads have been towards me, not nearly as un fair as he's been towards middle-class working families and the policies he supported. i will answer your question now. i support campaign finance reform to the tee. having run for the first time for congress in -- i can tell you this system needs correcting. we spend way too much time having to raise money. i'm proud of the groups that support of its bid to support us. we should be out talking to everybody and that audiences like this, going door to door every day. wish to be having economic summits before we debate.

>> 30 seconds for rebuttal. >> i will go back to the paid for my opponent ads. the $6,400 medi-scare to our seniors is not true. it has been debunked by the wall street journal. along with her telling people and eight -- will and medicare as they know it. we definitely need reforms there. this is what both parties have to do, come down and sit together. it has to be fair for both sides. i would like to see this money go to charitable organizations. >> the nonpartisan congressional budget office has confirmed the $6,400 figure . that said, this is what the p blic despises about politics -- public despises about politics.

the nastiness that has emerged. we have a party that said it will not let fact checkers get in the way. this has to stop. if we're going to end the gridlock of the the washing, many people who understand the importance of telling the truth -- the gridlock in awshingtonwa, we need people who understand the part of the telling the truth. >> what would you do to create jobs for the 17th congressional district? >> thank you for that question. i will be able to spend all -- a little time getting into our jobs program then. i like to talk about that in more depth. it does evolve around manufacturing. why manufacturing as the basis for job creation? because the jobs pay well. why do they pay well? we organized labor to thank for that.

we don't jobs, we need vito dollars but it will not support a family. -- retail jobs, we need retail jobs but they will not support a family. we have heartland community college, we have rock valley college. we have a very strong community college environment. when you're talking about these jobs, the skills gap that exists, the only way we will be able to adjust that is to make sure that the many factors we need to fill the jobs are working with those in a position to train people. that is the basis of it. you cannot do that without looking at tax policies that will incentivize jobs to stay here. support an act called a bring american jobs home act. that would incentivize companies to bring jobs home and ship goods overseas, not jobs. >> same question to congressman schilling terry >> that same

jobs act, you cannot judge the book by the cover. tonight, the register star said it is a good meeting bill but it would not do what they say it is intended to do. you can read that online. a couple things we can do right away -- i am a big proponent of repatriation. we have about $1.70 trillion sitting offshore. america has this backwards. companies from other countries have come here to america, they pay the federal tax and then what happens is when they want to bring the money home, they get to bring it home and it does not cost them anything. an america, let them pay the tax and when it went to bring it back home, which charge them a 35% tax. so we intent -- incentivize them to grow jobs offshore. another thing we did for 10 years, we did what my

predecessors could not do in 10 years by working in a bipartisan fashion with dave from iowa. we got it done -- we got done in five months. 200 jobs double spin off another 800 jobs. -- that will>> the bring americe act takes away a tax incentive for companies like a capital to send off to china. i would like to take a moment to talk about the 170 workers up in freeport, illinois. their job by christmas time will be sent to china. this is because we have tax policies that actually pay the companies in tax incentives to pack up and shifted jobs over to china. i selected those companies to

bring the jobs home. rest rebuttal from congressman schilling. >> my opponent continue to talk about how she does not want to ship jobs overseas but yet she invests thousands of dollars in overseas funds. so you cannot have it both ways. what this bill will do is it will incentivize companies to go offshore and build a facility for maybe $1 million ticket tax incentives for $2 million to bring those back. another thing it does is it will into the bus companies that are fully automated to come here to america with no jobs. >> to me address untruths on the spot? -- can we address untruths on the spot? my husband and i have for one case. it was one that had one quarter 1% in an overseas fund. as soon as we found out, we

divested. it is not true. you continue again to spread lies. >> i do not know what you would not understand when you invest in an overseas fund, you would know you are investing in overseas fund. the fact of the matter is that happen. the big thing is we cannot continue to put more regulations and more taxes on our american companies. double incentivize them to leave. >> please direct your next question to the congressman. >> this has been touched on earlier this hour about free trade. free trade agreements have been a topic in this race. ms. bustos, he said they heard of the debt limit while congressman schilling, using the free trade agreement [unintelligible] can you state where you stand on free trade?

>> i am a firm believer in the free-trade agreement. 5% of the world customers reside in america. 95% of our customers are outside of the usa. given the level playing field, we can beat anybody out there. when you look at the free trade agreement, does for example two weeks ago, the exports for construction equipment in america jumped by 24% because of free trade. but the president -- this is where senator durbin and i and the president of the united states agreed upon this. we can beat anybody if you're given that level playing field theory the president did a good job on these. he put lovers in their to wear if things got out of control, we could pull back and do some changing -- he put levers in there as to where if things got

ourt of control, we could pull back and do some changing. there is not one country we are treading with that we do not have a trade surplus. the other -- the only place is in energy. that is really important. >> the same question to cheri bustos. >> nafta and the nafta style trade agreements that my opponents supports, he voted year ago for other trade in panama colombia and korea. they have resulted in 91,000 illinois jobs being shipped overseas. that is why i cannot support something like this. it is hurtful. i am for trade. i want caterpillar to do well. and ship its goods overseas. that is critical. but we need to be focused on sending goods overseas, not the jobs. nafta has been hurtful to illinois. i support plans that have come

out of the sun at under senator sherrod brown, the 21st century trade act. it allows congress to have more oversight. it is not a one size fits all. it is -- it looks countries to find out where there are markets for goods. it also keeps a that the mind human-rights. the empowerment -- it also keeps in mind human rights. the environment. it is common sense trey that i support. >> along with senator durbin and the president of united states, the st. agreements not cost -- these trade agreements the not cost that. is not true. we can verify that with caterpillar. the only thing that has cost the

jobs here is why we have companies attacking clean coal and not allow us to go in and act as it. so caterpillar cannot build the big trucks this across the world. >> i would turn to maytag. not long after nafta passed, 1700 jobs went to mexico. that company received millions of dollars in taxpayer funds and move the jobs over to mexico. i talked to somebody like they've lost his job there. because the city was so devastated, he had to move away from the community to find work. >> next question directed first year cheri bustos. >> republicans have opposed cutting federal money for public

broadcasting. do you favor eliminating the superb pitching? >> i cannot favor eliminating that. -- do you favor eliminating that? >> i am not in favor of eliminating that. if we can look at that example, wvik -- it is the only radio station in that region that covers news. we are fortunate to have alex over here working and covering news but that would go away under a proposal like this. my kids, my husband, they were an age where they grew up on sesame street.

publicot onlly a fan of radio and television but i am an advocate for both as well to reflect the same question -- as well. >> the same question to congressman schilling. >> it is such a huge asset. my kids watch it all the time. herb, there is some emerging to broadcasting there at your station. that goes down, people will not know what to do in the event of a disaster. we have to take a look at where we can come in and do some cut. try to cut -- we have to cut. for every $7 america brings in, we spend 11. this of the fourth year in the row that we have had trillion dollar deficit. we keep going this way, we will not have to worry about funding because the will not be anything.

we will go the way of other countries. we have to make sure cuts you're going to be doing a mixture you did not hit things. separate once versus needs. addis ababa will have to do. focus on getting this -- that is something we will have to do. full employment takes care of a lot of the problems. it cannot be as the employer and then for the employee. >> the question somewhat deval to what i would see as priorities. -- somewhat evolved to what i would see as priorities. we have a vested -- we have a deficit problem because but, why you want to make sure that tax cuts stay for millionaires and billionaires and big oil and corporate outsources? i would rather have big bird the

making sure you are making it allowable and profitable for companies to send jobs to places like china and mexico. >> it is important to hear what my opponent is saying. all we hear of the talking points. big oil, millionaires, billionaires'. hear the facts -- the tax increases to is for -- she is for are the ones that president obama said bobby went to increase taxes on the job creators. >> with the deficit just mentioned, a freshman asks with the federal deficit climbing to over $16 trillion, how do you plan on reducing the deficit

without burdening the middle- class? >> the big thing we have to do, we put together cap and balance which would cap the spending. we are spending $1 trillion more every year. we have to look at the baseball spending. there are billions of dollars. we talk about taxing millionaires and billionaires. where are we going to get the other twin dollars to balance the budget -- the other trillion dollars to balance the budget? if we put more regulations and taxes on american companies, they will either shut down or leave the country. we see it here in illinois all the time. the more people we put back to work, the more that are paying taxes, then we can pay toward the deficit. >> the same question to cheri bustos. >> i think the first step is

to approach it in a balanced way. get rid of the tax cuts for the millionaires. that is a huge part of starting to balance this budget. the fact that congressman shilling is continuing to work so hard and is not willing to even take a look at that, that is a big part of the problem. yes, we have to compromise, reached across the aisle, make tough decisions, but let's start with at least some of the things that make sense. i will get back to the government accountability report. it sat on the shelf two years now, two years, $100 billion of annual savings. i would propose, should i be elected, legislation to enact that. i think that is a step in the right direction. and investing in education. for every dollar that we invest in education, we get a return on

that because people get out of high school and go to college and get jobs. for congressman schilling want to cut pell grants by $12 billion, that is not where we want to cut. that is where we get the return on investment. >> the tax increases that my opponent is talking about will cost illinois 31,000 jobs, america 700,000 jobs, the same tax hikes that president obama kept from happening in 2009. pell grants, lookit, washington, d.c., is the only place where you have baseline budgeting that is going up 7%, keep the pell grant the same. washington, d.c., is you cut the increase and they say you are cutting pell grants. it is simply not true. >> again, it's down to priorities. you want to cut head start,

programs, keep tax cuts for millionaires. you want to charge seniors and extra $6400 per year, which can be fact checked. we are looking out for the middle class. that is why i am running. that is my family's background. his dad had an eighth grade education, and he was able to succeed, with the help, he was able to have his family grew to middle-class existence because of uaw and john deere. been touchedc has on tonight. you each have criticized your opponent's stance on medicare. congressman schilling said the current national health care reform would mean $700 billion cuts in medicare, while ms. bustos, you say the plan that congressman schilling supports would drive up medicare costs through roof for seniors. voters may be more interested, aside from what your opponent

thinks, how do you think medicare should look if elected? >> medicare is run efficiently. the overhead costs on medicare are much more efficient than any private insurance company. it is run efficiently. i spent the last 10 years of my career in health care. i know medicare pretty well. here is what i would propose changing. medicare can be here for the current generation, for the next generation, the generation after that. we need to make sure that is a solemn promise we have made to seniors, and that along with social security keeps seniors out of poverty. we need to make sure medicare, just like the va, can -- prescription drug costs. we electronic records used to the full advantage of making sure patients are not getting over-prescribed drugs, word that

the health care they need is not redundant. electronic health records help do that. lastly, we coordinate care with the help of electronic health records, with help of the provisions of the center for medicare and medicaid innovation. we can do that. i have seen great successes and i know that has great potential savings for the medicare system. >> congressman shelling? >> the fact of the matter is medicare is going broke. it will be insolvent in 2024. i am the only one sitting up here who has backed a plan to save and strengthen medicare. 55 and older, you would keep the same medicare that you have. 54 and the junger, you can continue on traditional medicare or pick and choose from a list of approved providers. the key here is one of the frustrating things for me in washington is, you know, it is one thing to come to the table

with a plan, but it is another thing to not come to the table with a plan and just demagogue. that is where washington is broke. democrats and republicans need to come together and figure out solutions to problems. this has the independent payment advisory board that will kick in. it will be the bureaucrat hand- picked that will come between the patient and the doctor. that is wrong. medical device taxes, another incentive to ship jobs overseas. we have to stop this and have people who are willing to comment and have the guts to do the right thing and strengthen this. to come to the table with no solutions is just wrong. rebuttal. >> i am glad that i had the solutions for heading toward solvency. however, i will not balance the budget on the backs of the seniors. your plan would call seniors an extra $6500 per year.

i happen to be under 55, you are under 55, there are a lot of people in this audience. what about them. we're going to cut this program for the next generation? >> i have been paying into the system since i was about 13, 14 years old. but i think it is out and out wrong to bury your head in the sand and not have a fix for this. lookit, my grandmother who is 90, i did not want a bureaucrat coming between my grandmother and the doctor. we have to fix this. i am willing to sit down with anybody, as i have proven in my last year-and-a-half, year and three-quarters that i will work with anybody on the other side of the aisle because this is the right thing to do. this is serious stuff and we need to stop playing games. >> in order to allow sufficient time for closing statements, we will have one more question. >> this is an issue near and

dear to the hearts of the people in carroll county and the far north part of the district, thompson prison. since house republican leaders have said it would block any effort to open talks in prison, is a vote for you, senator, a vote to keep times in prison clothes? >> i have been working on that for quite awhile. last year i brought senator mark kirk and representative don mansulo to the prison. i fought tooth and nail to get out there and work with these people. this is why relationships in congress are so darn important. i don't look at a person as democrat or republican, is about building relationships to get things done. i think this happened, you know, the prison was sold, but now the real work happens because now we have to go in and try to get folks to give us the funding that is needed to get it open.

i will do everything i can to continue. that is 1100 jobs, $20 2 million of economic impact. and we will not have a problem of filling up. >> cheri bustos? >> the thompson prison is the epitome of dysfunction in congress. the fact this person was sitting vacant, that we had very much a consensus of wanting to open this, phil 1100 jobs, get this to cut a billion dollar economic impact, and my opponent gets behind this phantom controversy that there will be guantanamo prisoners brought there. it was a phantom controversy. there was not fact behind it. so senator turban made this statement, and i think it is very telling about how this person is not in the hands of the federal government, hopefully on the cost of opening. he said i asked congressmen

shilling to do one thing and cannot get it done. that was to convince his republican colleagues in the house to move on this. one congressman was blocking this a number of years. now we are on the cusp of all these jobs and economic impact that politics got in the way of. should i be elected, that will not happen. >> thank you, both candidates for your answers. it is time now for closing statements. because congressman shelling went first with opening statements, ms. bustos, you get to go first with closing statements. >> thank you. this election, and i think you have seen it tonight, gets down two priorities. i believe there is a clear choice. i also believe my opponent is part of the problem in washington. priorities have gotten upside down. i go all over this district and talk to people nearly every day about how they are hurt by washington's parties.

i visited -- by washington's priorities. i visited a senior citizen center, they cannot afford extra payments on medicare. i talk to carol, who attended bradley university and today is an engineer because of pell grants. she fears that program will not be available to students down the line. that is not right. and then the worker. dot turner is 61. she has worked at that plant 43 years and her job is gone to china. she is training her chinese replacements. these are the wrong priorities. i want to make sure that medicare and social security are there for future generations. i want to make sure that the incentives that are sending jobs to china go away. and i want to make sure that we balance the budget but with the right priorities. i respectfully ask for your vote. i hope that you will find that i am worthy of that. and i will never stop fighting

for the middle-class and working families of this country. >> i like to tell people this fight came to me. while we were running our small business, raising my kids, watching what was happening to this great state and this country, i decided to throw my hat in the ring. look, i don't come from party royalty. my dad was not a lobbyist. my dad was a bartender. this is about doing the right thing. this is about the fight for america. i have set my business and family off to the side to comment surf. i think far too often what happens is folks get out there and forget where they're from. we're here to serve the people of the district. i rejected the congressional pension. i brought my own health care to washington, d.c. i am leading by example, giving 110,000 others of my budget back to the people is the right thing to do. we have to lead. there is no more time to follow.

if somebody would have told me five years ago i would be here, i would say no way. but with my business background, my labour background, i am understand this. i respectfully ask each and everyone of you for your vote and i will continue to lead by example. thank you, and god bless. >> with that, this concludes this debate. i want to thank both bobby schilling and cheri bustos for coming in. i like to thank the panelists. . and thank you to our viewing, listening, and studio audiences for also enjoying the debate this evening. thank you so much, everybody. i am reminding you to cast your ballot if you have not already done so. >> in president obama's weekly address, he talks about the economy and consumer regulations law. then ann wagner delivers the

republican address on the economy and tax policy. >> hi, everybody. it has now been four years since the crisis that began on wall street spread to main street, hammering middle-class families and costing our economy 9 million jobs. since then, we have fought our way back. our businesses have added more than 5 million new jobs. the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest level since i took office. home values are rising again. and assembly lines are humming once more. to make sure america never goes through a crisis like that again, we passed tough new wall street reform to end taxpayer funded bailout for good. all for reform also created the first ever in the pan a consumer watchdog, who sold job is to look out for you. that means making sure that you have all the information that you need to make import financial decisions like buying a home, were paying for college. and it means going after anyone who tries to take advantage of

you or rip you off. but starting this month, that includes the folks who come up with your credit score. if you have not checked your credit score recently, you should. at a major impact on your life. it can determine whether or not you qualify for a loan or what kind of interest you have to pay. it can even affect your chances of renting an apartment or getting a job. and here is the thing, the companies that put your credit score together can make mistakes. they may think you had a loan or credit card that was never yours. they may think that you were late making a payment when you were on time. and when they mess up, you are the one who suffers. until this week, if you had a complete, he took to the company. sometimes they listen to, sometimes they did not. that was pretty much it. they were your only real hope. well, not anymore. if you have a complaint about your credit score that has not been properly addressed, you could go to consumer finance.gov/complaint and let the consumer watchdog know.

not only will they bring the complaint directly to the company in question, that will give you a tracking number so you can check back to see what is being done on your behalf. and fixing your credit score is not the only thing they can help you with. if you are opening a bank account, trying to get a student loan, or applying for credit card and something does not seem right, you could let them know and will check it out. if you are looking to buy a home and want to know if you're getting a fair deal on your mortgage, give them a call and will give you an answer. their only mission is to fight for you. and when needed, they will take action. for example, alongside other regulators, they recently ordered three big credit card companies to return more than $400 million to folks who were deceived or misled into buying things they did not want or understand. that is what wall street reform is all about. looking out for working families and making sure that everyone is planned by the same rules. sadly, that has not been enough

to stop republicans in congress from fighting these reforms. backed by an army of financial industry lobbyists, they are waging an all-out battle to delay, the throne, and dismantle these new roles. i refuse to let that happen. i believe the free market is one of the greatest forces of progress in human history and the true engine of job creation in this country is the private sector, not the government. but i also believe the free market has never been about taking whatever you want, however you can get it. alongside our innovative spirit, america's only prosperous when we meet certain obligations to one another and when we all play by the same set of rules. we have come too far and sacrificed too much to go back to an era of top-down, when iran economics. as long as i'm president, we will keep moving this country forward so that everyone, whether you start a business or punch a clock, and have confidence if you work hard you can get ahead. thanks, and have a great weekend.

>> hello, i am ann wagner, from the heartland of st. louis, missouri. i worked at a young age at the small retail carpet business my parents started. i vacuumed, a tag sale items come and work my way to the show room floor. but as that happened, that is where i met a young man working his way through high school, named ray, my husband of 25 years and the father of my three beautiful children. we are truly blessed, but like so many of you, we worry for future. our economy is hurting. our national debt is exploding. and the president's policies are making things worse. americans deserve leaders that can keep their promises and will not let up until our future is secure in our economy is strong. that is why i am supporting mitt romney, and is why i am asking for the support of missouri's second congressional district. as a first-time candidate, i do a lot of listening.

for all of the fear that i hear out there, the one thing that i hear most often is we can do better. it is what our parents taught us. i remember watching mind twill morning, noon, and at night. i saw my father deal with every take the government through his way, whether it had to do with the signs on the front of the building or the prices on the showroom floor. he knew that he could do better if government would just get out of the way it and stay out of the way. and he was right. when we get government off the backs of our job creators, small businesses have a better chance of thriving. and when small businesses thrive, so does our economy. that is why instead of raising taxes, we ought to fix our 72,000 page monstrosity of a tax code, so we can keep jobs here and bring jobs home that have gone overseas. we should repeal the president's health care law, which makes it harder for small businesses to hire.

and replace it with reforms that actually the work costs and protect the doctor-patient relationship. and instead of getting into high gas and energy prices, let's jump start the development of america's vast domestic energy resources. let's build the keystone pipeline. let's expand the exploration and use of natural gas and coal. these are all good ideas that mitt romney supports. the president obama has ignored or rejected. that is disappointing, especially considering how his policies have failed. he promised to listen. he promised us change. but all we have got is more of the same. more spending, more red tape, more debt and decline. a loss of hope. the united states senate, run by the president's party, has not passed a budget in more than 3.5 years. that is irresponsible. and reckless. now the president is demanding

another tax increase on small businesses that would destroy more than 700,000 jobs and drive our economy of the fiscal clift. here in missouri, we count on coal for 82% of our electricity. president obama's were on call is threatening higher electricity prices for families and job creators. we cannot go on like this. this election is not about president obama, the person. it is about his failed presidency and failed leadership. our country is going in the wrong direction. and mitt romney is the only leader who can turn this economy around. did americans back to work, and build the better america our parents worked and sacrificed to make possible. that is the opportunity before us. and it is the one that we must seize, for the sake of our children and the future of our great nation. god bless your families and may

god continue to bless the united states of america. >> in about 40 minutes, the full wisconsin senate debate between former gov. tommy thompson and madison congresswoman tammy baldwin. that is at 7:00 p.m. eastern. first, a look at the politics of that battle ground state going into election day. >> to set up this conversation, we are looking at 10 elect world votes in wisconsin. currently and the unemployment rate of 7.3%, and in 2008, the president won reelection, 13.9 percentage points. can we start with the economics

of wisconsin? specifically the unemployment rate? can you elaborate on the unemployment rate, what it means for the state, not only economically but politically? guest: the unemployment rate is below the national rate. but if you look at the trend in terms of jobs growth and wisconsin, our job growth has been actually slower than the national average, certainly slower than ohio, which among battle ground states is a pretty positive economic trend, better than the fat at the other end of the specter. kind of in that gray area for president obama and also for governor walker. we just had a huge, fierce debate over the recall of governor walker. the economy and jobs were central to that debate. a lot of conflicting, police statistics. the bottom line is that sort of somewhat sluggish job growth, positive trends in manufacturing, but nothing that

would i think either disqualify the president or insure his reelection. host: looking at individual people in wisconsin, how does the state breakdown when it comes to republicans, independents, democrats? guest: we don't have registration by party, so you just look at the political history. wisconsin as a swing state. it has voted democratic for president in every election since ronald reagan was on the ballot. a little misleading, though, because it is often extremely close, often very close to where the country is as a whole. it is the closest aide and the country into a dozen for, even closer in 2000. but you had this big blowout victory for president obama in 2008. democrats have tended to dominate the u.s. senate elections, but we had a big republican tidal wave in 2010.

if they win the senate seat this november, it will be the first time since the 1950's we have had two republican senators. so it is a state that very definitely swings back and forth between the parties. host: if you put up a map of wisconsin, what areas of the state trend republican, trend democratic? or is there a place where the two meet? guest: you have base areas and swing areas. the classic bass areas are around milwaukee and madison. the classic bass area for republicans is the belt of suburban counties in southeastern wisconsin, around milwaukee county. and heading up north along the eastern coast of wisconsin as well. but a lot of wisconsin, upstate wisconsin, really does swing. there are counties in northeastern wisconsin, kind of around green bay and central and

western wisconsin, that swung huge for obama in 2008, then swung violently back for the republicans in the gubernatorial races in 2010 and a recall fight of 2012. there were counties that barack obama as a democrat won for president by 10 points and scott walker as governor in june 1 by 20 or 38 points. these more rural counties, in some cases suburban, very competitive ticket splitters, and those will be counties to watch, northeastern wisconsin, central wisconsin, and western wisconsin, come election day. host: how does early voting factor into election day? guest: it is a lesser effect in wisconsin than other states. we don't have the same traditions. it has been growing, but not at the same level. it is technically known as in person absentee voting or mail

absentee voting. the window is narrower now as the result of some changes in state law. it is also harder to attract because we do not have registration by party. if your try to figure out which side is winning the early folk, it is more difficult. i don't think we can say with confidence who has the advantage in the early voting in wisconsin, but the early vote will be significant but will not be at the level of states like colorado. host: our voters required to show a photo i.d.? guest: a law was passed under republicans in 2010 to do that, but it was held up in court. so they will not be required to show photo i.d. this election. host: when it comes to how the votes are tabulated, what are the systems in place at the state, and what at the state level issues to mature those systems are repelled? guest: optical scanners are by for the propellant system.

that has proven to be a reliable system that has held up under some recounts we had. that has the virtue of being easy to administer and also preserving paper records. excuse me. so that is the system in wisconsin. we have had some very close elections and we have had cockatrices and debates over the voting system and over the integrity of the elections. i'm sure this will continue, and if it is a close election in 2012, anything like it was in 2004 and 200, when the margin was less than half a percent, i'm sure this debate will continue. host: as far as people who turn out to vote, what is the history? two people generate participate? shall vote inhoug wisconsin. that has been the turnout.

wisconsin and minnesota 10 to lead the nation in turnout. our turnout in 2004 was higher than 2000, partly because barack obama had this big lead at the end in 2008 and i think people kind of depressed the interest. it was still extremely high, but in 2004, you essentially had almost three-quarters of voting age adults voting in the state. the number was even higher if you were just voting eligible. in some parts of the state where turnout is higher, you are talking 80%, 90% of registered voters voting. that has been part of the political culture of wisconsin, even in nine presidential races. we've seen extraordinary turnout, remarkable turnout for the governor in this recall fight. we had a judicial race, the state supreme court. this spring, a non-partisan race on a spring ballot. but the turnout was higher than

some states for governor in 2010. thost: the state of wisconsin, one of the focus is here on c- span. our guest, craig gilbert of the milwaukee journal sentinel. "washingtonopn journal," a look at early voting with michael mcdonald. in the battleground state of pennsylvania. first, a discussion on the state's political history and the strategies for each campaign. we are joined by terry madonna. that is followed by a round table look at